Lögberg-Heimskringla - 18.10.1996, Page 1

Inside this week:
Heimskringla
The lcelandic Weekly
l.ösíberjj Sloliiiiö 14. jiimiiir ISSS HoimsKrinulii SlolnnA 'J. sepleniber ISSr.
Roots in Music...........................2
The Dogged Determination to Succeed,
Part Two of a Series..................4
lcelandic Children’s Story, Part One.....5
Poetry Comer.............................6
National Dress Still Popular.............7
HOArgangur Föstudagur 18, október 1996 Numer36
110th Year Publications Mail Registration No. 1667 Friday, 18 October, 1996 Number 36
ICELANDIC
N E W S
The Oldest
lcelander Living
The old-
est Ice-
lander
alive does not
live in Iceland
but rather at a
Senior Citizens
Home in Gimh,
Manitoba. Her name is Guðrún
Björg Björnsdóttir Amason. She is
no less than 107 years old. Guðrún
Björg was born at Egilsstaðir in
Vopnaríjord in 1888. At the age of
four she moved with her famíly to
Canada. She married Vilhjálmur
Árnason in 1915 and they had nine
children. The couple lived at Gimli,
Manitoba, where Vilhjálmur
worked as a carpenter and fisher-
man. Guðrún Björg will be 108 on
October 20th.
Agroup of seismologists
began working on an
extensive, international,
scientific project last summer in
Iceland to map the hot areas under
the earth’s crust in Iceland. The
project is done in co-operation with
the Icelandic Meteorological
Station, Durham University in
England, Princeton University in
the U.S. and the U.S. Geological
Survey. The main purpose is to
throw some light on the nature of
Continued on page 6
The Hot Spot
Project—An Inter-
national Research
Einarsson Records
Oral Culture
by Kevin Jón Johnson
With care and con-
sideration, Magnús
Einarsson has pro-
duced three volumes
celebraúng the oracy
of Icelandic immigrants to Canada:
Icelandic-Canadian Oral Narratives,
Icelandic-Canadian Memory Lore, and
Icelandic-Canadian Popular Verse.
His most recent work, 1994, contains
both Icelandic and English versions of the
texts and supporúng data; all three of his
collecúons are bilingual. Icelandic-Cana-
dian Popular Verse directly communi-
cates Úie immigrant experience with can-
dour, colour, humour, wit and spirit.
Einarsson’s choices, directed by
quality or curiosity, record versemaking
in Canada as he found it in the late 1960s.
The entries, provided by various inform-
ants whose photographs punctuate the
text, often erupted quickly in response to
a specific occasion or occurrence, and are
accompanied by explanatory notes. The
common get-togethers in mral commu-
nities in Canada offered frequent oppor-
tunity for such word-play.
Especially the product of male
comradeship in Canada, verses
often demonstrated the male
virtue of being entertaining, skemm-
tilegur, and therefore related to power or
status in the community.
A stubborn, popular notion, perhaps
influenced by Úie work of K.N. Júlíus,
leads some to falsely believe that
Icelandic-Canadian verse contains a fair
mix of English, resulting in a macaronic
or mixed-language poetry. Some English
words, commonly used by immigrants,
did find their way into verse, but only
rarely did such verse gain common cur-
rency in oral circulation.
A typical, topical poem records the
efforts of Sigurður Júlíus Jóhannesson,
alias K.N. Júlíus. He prepared the follow-
ing verse before joining Unitarian
minister Albert Kristjánsson in debate in
Lundar; their debate meant to determine
who was Úte better poet, Guttormur J.
Guttormsson or K. N. himself:
Prestur einn með snoturt snjáld
skarpa ræðu flutti
um hver væri meira skáld,
K. N. eða Gutti
Magnús Einarsson translates: “A
parson with a pretty face/ Delivered a
clever speech/About who was the greater
poet,/ K. N. or Gutti.” Albert, later
inquiring about this verse, was told by the
quick witted K. N. that it should really
have mn like this:
Prestureinn með snoturt snjáld
snjalla ræðdu flutti...
“A parson with a pretty face/ Deliv-
ered a brilliant speech...” (482-483).
Something of the quick wit of
Guttormsson himself sparkles from an-
other sample. When Vilhjálmur Stefáns-
son reported flnding blue-eyed Eskimos,
which he attributed to early contact with
the Greenland Norse, Guttormsson,
thinking this a bit much, replied:
Efúr Vilhjálms utanför til
Eskimóa
hvítu fólki fór að snjóa.
Einarsson translates: “After Vil-
hjálm’s journey to the Eskimos/ White
folk started snowing down” (345).
K. N. occurs frequently in Icelandic-
Canadian Popular Verse, Guttormsson
less frequenúy and Stephan G. Stephans-
son only once:
Löngum var ég Iæknir minn,
lögfræðingur, prestur,
smiður, kóngur, kennarinn,
kerra, plógur, hestur.
Einarsson translates: “For a long time
I was my own physician,/ Lawyer, priest,/
Smith, king, teacher,/ Cart, plough,
horse.” This well-known verse, describ-
ing the pioneer’s need for self-sufficiency,
demonstrates that a recognized poet could
also be a versifier. Both share Úie same
gift, Stephansson maintained — the
poet’s gift is simply greater (356).
Most contributors to Einars-
son’s book received much
less attention than these three
men in their lifetimes. For
example, this delightfúl, uplifting piece
by Lárus Nordal of Gimli:
Ljúft er vor með ljós og yl
og líf í hverju spori,
ef upprisa er annars úl
hún eitthvad líkist vori.
Einarsson translates: “Spring is de-
lightful with light and warmth/ And life
in every step,/ If there is such a thing as
resurrection/ It must resemble spring”
(200).
The following verse won flrst prize
in a compeúúon held in Arborg in 1947:
Lof sé þeim ef létu best
ljós á vegi skína;
auðnuleysi er það mest
arfi þeim að tína.
Einarsson translates Böðvar H.
Jakobsson as follows: “Praise to those
who let/ Light shine along the way;/ It’s
nothing but wretchedness/ To lose that
heritage” (195).
Continued on page 3